travelthunder.com

Several sites will e-mail free travel information on a weekly basis. The best site we’ve found offering information on weekend specials is Smarterliving.com.
Smarterliving.com targets the leisure traveler with its information on specials, but also offers the flexible last-minute business traveler one key feature: Those registered will be e-mailed a well-organized listing of weekend specials, specifically flights departing from all local airports the user has indicated. Such weekend specials may also be obtained by registering at the Web site of all major airlines, but e-mail notifications will typically include a majority of flights that involve city pairs irrelevant to the traveler. Weekend special fares for domestic travel are usually announced each Wednesday for a Friday or Saturday departure, returning the following Monday or Tuesday. International specials are posted on Mondays for travel seven to ten days later and returning within a few days. Fares are about the same as sale fares, and may be 65 to 80 percent off full-coach fares.

Register at Traveltactics.com to receive free weekly updates about value in upscale travel. The site also has a variety of special reports topical to major issues in travel, as well as an extensive array of carefully selected links to the best travel sites. This site can save you significant amounts of time and money. Other sites to check out for weekly travel updates include Joesentme.com (excellent fare for business travelers run by Joe Brancatelli), Elliott.org (Chris Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Travel magazine and an advocate for travelers), Frequentflier.com (Tim Winship is an expert on frequent flyer miles), and Johnnyjet.com (Johnny DiScala is an Internet travel expert with a weekly e-zine describing his travels).

If you are interested in the low-cost airlines which may not be available from the neutral retail travel agent Web sites, check out Internet sites for low-cost airlines, such as Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, America West, Frontier, ATA, AirTran, Spirit, and so on.
Southwest Airlines is widely regarded as the ‘‘champion cheap airline,’’ having been profitable every single quarter since 1972. Its operational prowess, including on-time performance and customer service, is excellent; and the proportion of tickets purchased at its Web site Southwest.com beats out every other major airline. The reason for this phenomenon is really quite easy to understand: Using Southwest.com rather than the phone to make reservations is extremely easy and fast, may offer extra frequent flyer credits, and makes understanding Southwest’s clear pricing structure remarkably simple.
But be forewarned—Southwest’s fares may not always be the cheapest, and there are a few disadvantages to flying Southwest, such as:

• Long lines to check in baggage (especially over peak holiday travel periods)
• No preassigned seating at the time of publication (those who arrive
• earliest board first, and get priority selection of seats)
• No opportunities to upgrade
• No in-flight meals

Taking these drawbacks into consideration, the savvy business traveler may want to choose a major carrier over Southwest, even if it means paying a slightly higher price.

Each major carrier and low-cost airline has its own Web site, which you can easily access through any search engine (also refer to Appendixes A–D). Three key benefits to booking on an airline Web site are:

1. Some sites offer frequent flyer miles for purchasing at their sites.
2. Airlines are typically more customer friendly when it comes to making changes if the ticket was purchased direct from them rather than a travel agent.
3. You will be able to access all flights offered by an airline to your desired destination versus just select offerings at independent travel Web sites.

If you can find a better fare at a retail site or consolidator, however, you will have to decide whether these advantages outweigh the lower price. In general, proprietary airline sites are user friendly and provide information about specials such as:
_ Discounts that may be time sensitive
_ Vacation packages
_ Frequent flyer promotions
_ New routes
Notwithstanding, we strongly recommend that you check out prices at supplier-neutral retail travel agency sites, such as Orbitz.com, Expedia.com, or Travelocity.com, as they are less likely to be biased in their presentation of information.

‘‘Site scrapers,’’ such as Farechase.com, Qixo.com, and Sidestep.com, claim to scan vast numbers of Web travel sites to find the best airfares and hotel rates, providing a simple way to compare airfares side by side. Each site has capability to scan different sites, so none is able to access the entire universe. One benefit of accessing these sites is that their searches include fares offered by major discount airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue, which you frequently cannot obtain from Orbitz.com, Expedia.com, or Travelocity.com. If you see an attractive fare, you simply click on a link that takes you directly to the reservations site offering the fare.
However, prices are not necessarily the lowest possible, and their technology still has a ways to go to be fast, user friendly, and consistently effective. But give it a try if you have some extra time!

Consolidator sites may offer significant discounts, but airfares purchased at these sites usually come with numerous restrictions. For example, tickets will almost always be nonrefundable and may also be nonchangeable. And certain flights purchased from consolidators may not be eligible for frequent flyer miles. Be certain to check on applicable restrictions before you pay for your ticket.
There is no clear leader when it comes to consolidator sites. Furthermore, because of the complexity and expense of building online reservations capabilities, few consolidators have developed efficient and easy-tonavigate sites that allow users to find the best flight and price. The best known consolidator—based on a long and profitable history as a ‘‘bricks and mortar’’ travel agent—is Cheaptickets.com, which offers domestic tickets on multiple airlines. However, Cheaptickets.com fares are frequently bettered by the best-known retail sites. Cheaptickets.com offers both an express search and a ‘‘power fare search,’’ which allows you to find the lowest fares and best travel dates for your itinerary. In addition, this site may offer the best fares to Hawaii, and is increasingly offering competitive fares abroad. Another consolidation site worth checking is Overstock.com. Click on ‘‘travel’’ from the home page.
Other travel sites to check out in your ‘‘spare time’’:
_ Allcheapfares.com
_ Travelnow.com
_ Cheap-airfares.us